Driver gets four parking tickets after disabled bay painted around his car while he was on holiday
The London council has apologized after a man received multiple parking tickets when a disabled bay was painted around his legally parked car.
CCTV footage shared on social media shows a contractor measuring and painting disabled parking charges around a car left on an unrestricted road outside the owner’s home.
The owner, who spoke to the BBC but did not want to be named, received a total of four penalty notices (PCNs) between 22 and 26 November after the bay was built in New Addington, south London, on 17 November.
“It really affected my holiday negatively because I was constantly checking [the camera] “I was trying to see what was wrong and there was nothing I could do,” he told BBC London. “I didn’t want to go out and do the things I wanted to do because I was worried about the amount of tickets I had accumulated.”
The owner saw two tickets on his windshield when they returned from their trip; the other two were removed by an unknown person.
The owner of the facility, which had a disabled park built upon the request of a resident, admitted that the disabled sheep were important but criticized the municipality for not making any notification.
“It’s the same as doing an extension or any other road work; you let people know,” he said. “Without any communication with your community is the wrong way to do it.”
He decided to share the images on social media after the neighborhood residents claimed that he parked in the bay knowing that he should not park.
“That really upset me. I just said, ‘Why are you looking at me as the bad guy?’ I thought. he said. “But I understand that before the bay was drawn, someone didn’t know I parked there.”
The resident told the BBC he had not received direct confirmation from the council that PCNs relating to the new bay had been cancelled.
“There is nothing in writing. It’s just a comment from them on the video,” he said. “I think the problem here is that the lack of communication in the beginning creates a snowball effect of mistakes.”
Your Croydon commented under the CCTV footage shared in response to the owner, saying “you have not been and will not be given any punishment for this.
“We were installing a new disabled bay for a resident and are allowing some time for the new bays to be installed before implementation. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused and please contact us if you have any questions.”
A Croydon Council spokesman said: “Our road marking contractor painted lines for a new disabled area at the request of a resident on November 17. “The contractor painted around a car as is standard practice, otherwise they would have had to wait for the area to become clear, which could have taken weeks.
“The contractor took a photo of the vehicle, so we knew not to fine the owner. Unfortunately, one of our parking attendants was not informed and a parking ticket was issued. However, since a note was received from our contractor in the system, these did not apply to the fine. The tickets were canceled a week before the video was uploaded to social media and we apologized for the confusion.
“It is unacceptable that our park ranger is subjected to verbal abuse online. We ask residents with concerns to contact the Council directly and not to mistreat any staff members in the performance of their duties.”
